In June 1998 the Fourth International Workshop on Digital Mammography was held in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, where it was hosted by the department of Radiology of the University Hospital Nijmegen. This series of meetings was initiated at the 1993 SPIE Biomedical Image Processing Conference in San Jose, USA, where a number of sessions were entirely devoted to mammographic image analysis. At very successful subsequent workshops held in York, UK (1994) and Chicago, USA (1996), the scope of the conference was broadened, establishing a platform for presentation and discussion of new developments in digital mammog raphy. Topics that are addressed at these meetings are computer-aided diagnosis, image processing, detector development, system design, observer performance and clinical evaluation. The goal is to bring researchers from universities, breast cancer experts, and engineers together, to exchange information and present new scientific developments in this rapidly evolving field. This book contains all the scientific papers and posters presented at the work shop in Nijmegen. Contributions came from as many as 20 different countries and 190 participants attended the meeting. At a technical exhibit companies demon strated new products and work in progress. Abstracts of all papers were reviewed by members of the scientific committee. Many of the accepted papers had excellent quality, but due to limited space not all of them could be included as full papers in these proceedings. Papers that were rated high by the reviewers are included as long or short papers, others appear as extended abstracts in the last chapter.

This book deals with the latest achievements in the field of optical coherent microscopy. While many other books exist on microscopy and imaging, this book provides a unique resource dedicated solely to this subject. Similarly, many books describe applications of holography, interferometry and speckle to metrology but do not focus on their use for microscopy. The coherent light microscopy reference provided here does not focus on the experimental mechanics of such techniques but instead is meant to provide a users manual to illustrate the strengths and capabilities of developing techniques. The areas of application of this technique are in biomedicine, medicine, life sciences, nanotechnology and materials sciences.

This is the third volume in the series, in which the topic of the effects of radio frequencies on human tissue, now increasingly a concern with the prevalence of cell phones, is explored by Prof. Lin and other researchers. The impact of electromagnetics on imaging and cardiology, both very keen areas of research at present, is also explored.

This book is a compilation of the invited papers, which were presented at the Fourth European Symposium on Radiopharmacy and Radiopharmaceuticals, which was held in Baden, Switz- land, 1-4 May, 1991. The First and Third Symposia on Radiopharmacy and Radiopharmaceuticals (Elsinore, Denmark, 1983, 1987) concentrated on the safety and efficacy of radiopharmaceuticals, whereas this Fourth Symposium to some extent followed up the subject of the Second Symposium (Cambridge, UK, 1985): recent developments in radiopharmacy and current research on radiopharmaceuticals. The symposium was organized by the Radiopharmacy Group of the Swiss Society of Medical Radiology (Section Nuclear Medicine) under the auspices of the task group on radiopharmaceu- cals of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM). The organizing committee consisted of the cochairmen Drs. P.A. Schubiger (Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Villigen) and G. Westera (University Hospital, ZiJrich) and the members H.-F. Beer, P. Bl iuenstein, P. Hasler (all PSI) and H. M icke (Cantonal Hospital, Basel). The subjects of this Symposium ranged from isotope production to clinical testing of radioph- maceuticals, including the organisational prerequisites. In addition, the development of new radiopharmaceuticals and of PET radiopharmacy, and the concomittant ongoing evolution of regulatory guidelines by national (various European countries, USA) and international (EC) authorities, induced us to honor the vivid interest in this subject and to make it an important part of this symposium.

As an addition to the European postgraduate training system for young neurosurgeons we began to publish in 1974 this series of Advances and Technical Standards in Neurosurgery which was later sponsored by the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies. This series was first discussed in 1972 at a combined meeting of the Italian and German Neurosurgical Societies in Taormina, the founding fathers of the series being Jean Brihaye, Bernard Pertuiset, Fritz Loew and of European co Hugo Krayenbtihl. Thus were established the principles operation which have been born from the European spirit, flourished in the European Association, and have throughout been associated with this series. The fact that the English language is well on the way to becoming the international medium at European scientific conferences is a great asset in terms of mutual understanding. Therefore we have decided to publish all contributions in English, regardless of the native language of the authors. All contributions are submitted to the entire editorial board before publi cation of any volume. Our series is not intended to compete with the publications of original scientific papers in other neurosurgical journals. Our intention is, rather, to present fields of neurosurgery and related areas in which important recent advances have been made. The contributions are written by specialists in the given fields and constitute the first part of each volume.

Kornhuber and Deecke first recorded and reported the Bereitschaftspotential in 1964. The aim of this book is to bring together in a single volume some of the important research on the Bereitschaftspotential and other movement-related cortical potentials and to highlight and address some of the pertinent questions relating to the Bereitschaftspotential and to identify the key issues for future investigation in this field. This book represents a unique compilation of information about the Bereitschaftspotential and related cortical potentials and techniques for measuring preparatory processes in the brain. The book will be of interest to motor physiologists, psychologists and neurologists working in clinical or research laboratories.

Sharmila Majumdar In the area of osteoporosis and skeletal changes, it is currently accepted that bone mineral density (BMD), widely used for screening, monitoring and assessing therapeutic efficacy, does not adequately explain the pathogenesis of osteoporosis, the process of aging, or the therapeutic efficacy of various treatments. In this context, trabecular micro- architecture has enormous potential to contribute to understanding the pathophysiology of osteopor.osis and therapy assessment. The use and value of noninvasive imaging and quantitative image analysis and processing of trabecular bone micro-architecture have increased dramatically due to recent advances in instrumentation and software. This emerging field is diverse, interdisciplinary, and encompasses many different imaging modalities. Interested researchers include those involved in technique development, basic science and animal studies, as well as clinical researchers and practicing physicians. With the growth of this area of research, a group of investigators at the 11th Interna- tional Workshop of Bone Densitometry, 1 concluded that a forum dedicated to this matter was urgently needed. With this agenda, Dr. Peter Ruegsegger organized the first sympo- 2 sium on conjunction with the 10th Conference of the European Society of Biomechanics. The symposium on Bone Architecture and Competence was a two-hourlong event which resulted in five chapters in Bone Research and Biomechanics, edited by G. Lowet, P. Ruegsegger, H. Weinans, and A. Meunier, published by lOS Press, 1997. The second symposium was held as a pre-symposium to the 12th Workshop on Bone Denistometry,3 and flourished as a daylong event.

It was at Frankfurt/Mainin 1899 that Paul Ehrlich first expounded his famous "site-chain theory" -which described the basic immunological principal of antibody-antigen interactio- on the occasion of the opening of the Institute for Experimental Therapeutics (which was later named after him). Nearly 100 years have passed since, and in retrospect it can be said that the "Ehrlich Era" (first steps in immunology "Magic Bullet" concept) and the "Behring Era" (detection of antibodies and serum therapy) formed the essential basis in the development of immunology. Niels K. Jerne, the former director of the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Frankfurt/Main received, together with Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein, the Nobel Prize in Medicine 1984. These late successors of Ehrlich and Behring first described the hybridoma technology (in 1975) which enabled one of the most important and revolutionary technological innovations in the field of immunology -the production of monoclonal antibodies. It happens that, the time of the publication of this book, just a decade has passed since the first use of radiolabelled monoclonal antibodies in man (by the Lausanne Group). Over these 10 years a tremendous progress has taken place in the field of immunoscintigraphy: A large panel of highly specific monoclonal antibodies against tumour-associated antigens as well as normal cell compounds have been developed. Enormous progress has been made in the field of radiolabelling -from iodine-131 to technetium-99mor even positron-emittingradionuclides, e. g. iodine-124.

It is estimated that the functionally significant body of knowledge for a given medical specialty changes radically every 8 years. New specialties and "sub specialization" are occurring at approximately an equal rate. Historically, estab lished journals have not been able either to absorb this increase in publishable material or to extend their readership to the new specialists. International and national meetings, symposia and seminars, workshops, and newsletters success fully bring to the attention of physicians within developing specialties what is occurring, but generally only in demonstration form without providing historical perspective, pathoanatomical correlates, or extensive discussion. Page and time limitations oblige the authors to present only the essence of their material. Pediatric neurosurgery is an example of a specialty that has developed during the past 15 years. Over this period, neurosurgeons have obtained special train ing in pediatric neurosurgery, and then dedicated themselves primarily to its practice. Centers, Chairs, and educational programs have been established as groups of neurosurgeons in different countries throughout the world organized themselves respectively into national and international societies for pediatric neurosurgery. These events were both preceded and followed by specialized courses, national and international journals, and ever-increasing clinical and investigative studies into all aspects of surgically treatable diseases of the child's nervous system."

In recent years there have been tremendous advances in cardiac imaging techniques covering the complete spectrum from echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, magnetic resonance imaging to contrast angiography. With respect to these noninvasive and invasive cardiac imaging modalities, marked technological developments have allowed the cardiologist to visualize the myocardium in a far more refined manner than conventional imaging was capable of. Echocardiography has extended its domain with intravascular ultrasound, cardiovascular nuclear imaging has added positron emission tomography to its line of research, magnetic resonance imaging has been broadened with magnetic resonance angiography and spectroscopy, and finally contrast angiograp hy has widened its scope with excellent quantitation programs. For all these imaging modalities it is true that the application of dedicated quantitative analytic software packages enables the evaluation of the imaging studies in a more accurate, reliable, and reproducible manner. It goes without saying that these extensions and achievements have resulted in improved diagnostics and subsequently in improved patient care. Particularly in patients with ischemic heart disease, major progress has been made to detect coronary artery disease in an early phase of the disease process, to follow the atherosclerotic changes in the coronary arteries, to establish the functional and metabolic consequences of the luminal obstructions, and to accurately assess the results of interventional therapy.

In the past nuclear medicine has tended to develop in cycles governed by the development of new radiopharmaceuticals followed or preceded by advances in instrumentation. The development of alternative techniques, such as X-Ray Computer Tomography, NMR Imaging and Ultrasound have also had a stimulating effect and pointed the way to new developments. The development of Positron Emission Tomography, while in itself of limited application because of high costs involved, provided a great deal of information which led to the development of new organ or disease specific, single photon emitting radiopharmaceuticals together with tomographic Gamma cameras, whereby detailed information on the biodistribution of the reagents could be obtained with accurate spatial resolution presented in a form suitable for comparison with the other imaging modalities. This technology, known as Single Photon Emission (Computer) Tomography (SPECT or SPET, as the mood takes you) is now an essential tool in nuclear medicine. The volume presents a basic guideline to the technology involved and discusses the application of the method to the investigation of various anatomical regions of the body. The book is an aide memoire to the routine practitioner and a source of information for other medical specialists. "

Fourier Vision provides a new treatment of figure-ground segmentation in scenes comprising transparent, translucent, or opaque objects. Exploiting the relative motion between figure and ground, this technique deals explicitly with the separation of additive signals and makes no assumptions about the spatial or spectral content of the images, with segmentation being carried out phasor by phasor in the Fourier domain. It works with several camera configurations, such as camera motion and short-baseline binocular stereo, and performs best on images with small velocities/displacements, typically one to ten pixels per frame. The book also addresses the use of Fourier techniques to estimate stereo disparity and optical flow. Numerous examples are provided throughout. Fourier Vision will be of value to researchers in image processing & computer vision and, especially, to those who have to deal with superimposed transparent or translucent objects. Researchers in application areas such as medical imaging and acoustic signal processing will also find this of interest.

Mass spectrometry (MS) offers unmatched capabilities for the detection, characterization, and identification of a broad range of analytes. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) integrates MS data with information on the spatial distributions of the analytes, further enhancing the applicability of MS. In Mass Spectrometry Imaging: Principles and Protocols, expert practitioners from academia, industry, and the clinic contribute cutting-edge protocols describing the application of MSI to investigations of analyte localization in a variety of specimens, from microorganisms to plant and animal tissues. Divided into three sections, this volume presents the principles of MS, current and future trends of MSI, and qualitative and quantitative protocols to measure and identify endogenous metabolites and xenobiotics. An array of MSI approaches and technologies for characterizing peptide and protein distributions are described in detail. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, protocol chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, and step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory procedures. Also included are notes providing tips to avoid experimental pitfalls and helpful suggestions for method troubleshooting. Comprehensive and up-to-date, Mass Spectrometry Imaging: Principles and Protocols is written for scientists, biological and chemical engineers, and clinicians who are interested in applying MSI in their work and those who would benefit from having detailed experimental guidelines available in a single, convenient source.

A critical summary of the state of the art of PET technology and related disciplines (camera physics, radiochemistry, radiopharmacology, computerised brain atlases and databases, etc.), plus a survey of the most recent developments in the clinical and neuroscience applications of PET. The chapters systematically guide the reader from the basics of the technique - including new camera designs, new drugs, and new statistical and image processing approaches - through its most important clinical applications - in neurology, psychiatry and oncology - to the most sophisticated neuroscience applications, including research into human sensory and motor systems, the functional organisation of imagery, volition, attention and consciousness in the human brain.

Can drug development and evaluation be improved by the use of positron emission tomography (PET)? PET is now well established and many PET centres participate in networks that warrant the quality of their research. PET allows one to follow the effect of a drug on a variety of patients' metabolic parameters. In addition, PET may be used to follow the fate in vivo of a compound, allowing visualisation of its binding to specific receptors and a direct study of the mechanism of drug action in normal and pathological situations. The book shows the fields in which PET offers new and unique information for the development of drugs (conception, toxicity, pharmacokinetics and metabolism, clinical research, and relations between clinical and biological effects) and evaluates fields in which PET may shorten the development time of drugs. Audience: Professionals in the pharmaceutical industry in all areas of drug discovery and pharmacology, pre-clinical testing, pharmacokinetics and metabolism, clinical evaluation, registration and regulatory affairs. Government health authority representatives who assess data and documentation on new drug development and radiopharmaceuticals. Academic experts concerned with any of these areas.

This volume represents the primary lectures of the NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Modern Technology," which was held at Sarigerme Park (near the Dalaman Airport) on the southern Aegean shore of Turkey from August 23 to September 4, 1992. As indicated in the title, this ASI was aimed at examining, displaying, and perhaps influencing, the role of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in modern technological activity. The lectures summarized in this volume and the numerous short contributed talks and posters were primarily aimed at the question, "What is NMR doing in support of modern technology?" During the main discussion periods and the numerous small scheduled meetings of specific interest groups this same topic was also addressed, along with questions like, "What could or should NMR be doing in support of modern technology?" With this kind of subject orientation, the organizers attempted to include a large participation at the ASI from scientists and engineers from diverse private industries in which NMR does, or perhaps should, play a substantial role in supporting or optimizing technology. Perhaps because of a combination of worldwide industrial contractions and residual corporate nervousness regarding the then recent Gulf War (which caused a one-year postponement of this ASI), the participation from private industry was numerically disappointing. We hope that this book will serve to bring the role of NMR in modern industry to the attention of numerous industrial scientists and engineers who were unable to attend the AS .

We have considered it to be a demanding assignment to provide a complete exposition dealing with the nature of radiation, its effects, and protection against it to workers in health-related activities. "Radiation" (and more precisely "ionizing radiation") is emitted by X-ray machines, nuclear reactors, and nuclear weapons, but also comes from natural sources to which we are all exposed. It would have been easier to deal with this subject area with the terminology and mathematics employed by specialists. However, although most of the potential readers probably have obtained further pertinent knowledge, we assume no more than a high school education in science and mathematics and the challenge was to provide maximum information within this constraint. This book contains five sections: (A) Radiation Physics, (B) Radiological Physics, (C) Radiation Biology, (D) Radiation Effects on Human Populations, and (E) Radiation Protection. Each section is preceded by a synopsis covering its essential features. It provides sufficient information to enable readers to obtain a general under standing of the subject of the section and an adequate background for comprehension of other sections. The more detailed presentation in the bulk of each section is followed by appendixes that generally contain more advanced topics. This scheme necessarily involves some repetition but permits a more flexible approach for readers who are especially interested in the contents of particular sections.

The three-volume set LNCS 7510, 7511, and 7512 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2012, held in Nice, France, in October 2012. Based on rigorous peer reviews, the program committee carefully selected 252 revised papers from 781 submissions for presentation in three volumes. The second volume includes 82 papers organized in topical sections on cardiovascular imaging: planning, intervention and simulation; image registration; neuroimage analysis; diffusion weighted imaging; image segmentation; computer-assisted interventions and robotics; and image registration: new methods and results.

The three-volume set LNCS 7510, 7511, and 7512 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2012, held in Nice, France, in October 2012. Based on rigorous peer reviews, the program committee carefully selected 252 revised papers from 781 submissions for presentation in three volumes. The first volume includes 91 papers organized in topical sections on abdominal imaging, computer-assisted interventions and robotics; computer-aided diagnosis and planning; image reconstruction and enhancement; analysis of microscopic and optical images; computer-assisted interventions and robotics; image segmentation; cardiovascular imaging; and brain imaging: structure, function and disease evolution.

Carpal-tunnel and other entrapment syndromes are perhaps the most common work-related injuries currently reported. With this book, Vladimir Golovchinsky presents the first evidence of double-crush syndrome as a subgroup of these. To date the existence of double-crush syndrome has been a matter of debate. Dr. Golovchinsky presents a statistical analysis of substantial clinical material, which finds a cause-and-effect relationship between cervical or lumbar radiculopathy and peripheral entrapment in corresponding nerves, thus proving the existence of double-crush syndrome. This book will be invaluable to physicians performing EMG-NCV testing and to other healthcare professionals who encounter peripheral entrapment syndromes in their practices.

This 'in vivo' atlas contains more than 50 magnetic resonance (MR) images of the brain. Each structure is represented in the axial, coronal and sagittal plane, magnified in colour schemes and reconstructed in 3D images with a useful millimetric scale. The atlas offers the reader a practical and simple tool for surgical planning and for diagnostic and anatomical studies. The high level of anatomical definition of the in vivo MR images means that there is no loss in precision as a result of post-mortem changes. No doubt, this book is an excellent teaching instrument for all students of the neurosciences, regardless of the individual level of training and expertise.

Among the readily available -emitting radionuclides, the nuclides of iodine have the greatest versatility in labeling both the hydrophilic and the lipophilic compounds that are used in biology and medicine. Biologically important micrmolecules, semimacromolecules, and macromolecules have been identified which, after iodination, almost maintain the same molecular configuration and similar biologic specificity as those of the parent molecules. The multiple techniques for iodination and the clinical use of iodinated products have made possible the present status of the development of diagnostic nuclear medicine. 125r, with a half-life of 60 days, has a crucial role in competitive protein-binding studies. 131r is useful for measuring thyroid uptake, for the diagnosis of thyroid carcinoma and metastasis, and for therapy. 1nr , with a reasonably shorter half-life, is almost ideal for thyroid workup and for a few useful labeled radiopharmaceutical. Although ~c is used more widely in diagnostic procedures, the radionuclides of iodine will always have a major role in biology and medicine. A considerable amount of information is scattered in the literature regarding the chemistry of radioiodination and the mechanism of tracer localization in cells and tissues. Labeled peptides, proteins, and antibodies are extensively used for protein turnover studies, receptor binding and tumor imaging studies, and radioimmunoassay. The general trend in the use of tracers in clinical nuclear medicine has been an evolution from 3H, 14C, 11C, and 13 to 125 , 131 and 123r to ~c and 111rn.

Electron magnetic resonance spectroscopy is undergoing something akin to a renaissance that is attributable to advances in microwave circuitry and signal processing software. EPR: Instrumental Methods is a textbook that brings the reader up to date on these advances and their role in providing better experimental techniques for biological magnetic resonance. Chapters in this book guide the reader from basic principles of spectrometer design through the advanced methods that are providing new vistas in disciplines such as oximetry, imaging, and structural biology. Key Features: Spectrometer design, particularly at low frequencies (below X-band), Design of spectrometer components unique to ENDOR and ESEEM, Optimization of EMR spectrometer sensitivity spanning many octaves, Algorithmic approach to spectral parameterization, Application of Fourier Methods to polymer conformation, oximetry, and imaging.

"This book is concerned with a probabilistic approach for image analysis, mostly from the Bayesian point of view, and the important Markov chain Monte Carlo methods commonly used....This book will be useful, especially to researchers with a strong background in probability and an interest in image analysis. The author has presented the theory with rigor he doesn t neglect applications, providing numerous examples of applications to illustrate the theory." -- MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS"

In recent years cell-based technologies have gained significant scientific attention, and have become a matter of intense public debate as well. Namely, (i) tissue engineering, the construction of tissues and whole organs using molecularly-designed resorbable biomaterials to create new tissue de novo with or without transplanting cells; (ii) the potential use of human embryonic stem cells for transplantation and regenerative medicine (with similar potential for adult-derived stem cells); (iii) and gene therapy, in relation with cell transplantation, have taken their places as the most discussed biomedical issues of the day. New findings in biomimetic materials, cell signalling pathways, extracellular matrix receptors and ligands, growth factors, and the human genome project are motivating the developments in these challenging research areas. This book includes manuscripts on tissue engineering, stem cells and gene therapies authored by world-renowned scientists of the field. The first section of the volume consists of four chapters giving perspectives for the current status and potential future of tissue engineering and stem cell technologies. The second section of the volume includes five chapters based on experimental and clinical data. In this section, the role of stem cells in liver tissue engineering, cell-based therapies in diabetes mellitus, and chronic degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, and adult-derived stem cell therapies are discussed. The two chapters of the third section focus on the biomarkers for tissue-engineered products, namely for tissue-engineered skin. The eight chapters of the fourth section discuss novel biomaterials developed for neural-, vascular-, aortic-, bone-, cartilage- and endocrine pancreas-tissue engineering applications. The last section of the book includes chapters on practical gene targeting applications, controlled release in gene therapy and tissue engineering, antibodies in cancer, acute-phase genes and phage-displayed peptide libraries. Proceedings of BIOMED 2002 The 9th International Symposium on Biomedical Science and Technology, held September 19-22, 2002, in Antalya, Turkey.